You could be right there. NBA ShootOut 2002 had Stephon Marbury on the cover wearing his Nets jersey, despite the fact he'd been traded to the Suns that same offseason. Obviously some things have changed since then, but it's probably too late to re-shoot and re-print, should Irving get traded. Perhaps they could offer it as an insert though, similar to the multi-cover inserts for NBA 2K16. Maybe even a Photoshopped version.

Going back to my previous post, the cover of NBA ShootOut 2002 remained unchanged, even though they had even more time to do so. Things have changed since then, but I imagine it would still be a logistical nightmare this late in development.

Andrew wrote:Going back to my previous post, the cover of NBA ShootOut 2002 remained unchanged, even though they had even more time to do so. Things have changed since then, but I imagine it would still be a logistical nightmare this late in development.

They probably have tens of thousands of physical covers printed out already. I think this is what we'll get.

I think they gonna change it. I remember similar situation with FIFA when Bale was traded from Spurs to Real and originally on cover he was in Spurs shirt. EA changed it to Real and they had even less time to do that than 2k have. Or 2k do the same thing like EA with Madden 09.

Brett Favre was on the madden cover in his packers gear before unretiring days before the release of the game. I think they let you download a new cover with a jets jersey photoshopped on but I forget if they eventually started printing those for release

I understand what you are saying Andrew, and that we are a month away. But that NBA Shootout situation was over 15 years ago. I wonder if they will make the change real quick now.

Interesting move indeed

Edit: Official response from Jason Argent

We are excited to be part of one of the most memorable NBA offseasons in history with Kyrie, our 2K18 cover athlete, and Isaiah, one of the stars of our 2K roster, trading places. This isn't an unprecedented event, a cover athlete being traded – but it's certainly interesting timing with 2K18 being released in less than a month. The good news is that as the most authentic and realistic basketball game on the market, we're used to being nimble and responding to changes in the NBA. Fans should be thrilled to know that we will issue a version of 2K18 featuring Kyrie in a Boston Celtics uniform at a later date.

I don't know what to understand from his statement. Anyways, I'm getting a Cavs Jersey cover version so I can sell it on ebay for a fortune in a few years, lol. That version sounds like it's going to be limited.

I guess at the end of the day, we're all right, in a way. They're not changing the cover before release, but there'll be copies of the game with a Celtics cover at a later date. Presumably, digital cover art will be changed sooner.

[Q] wrote:Sounds like they're going the Madden 09 route where they'll burn through their supply and then run with new art. Cost effective. No point in throwing away the money you spent making the old ones

EA did a similar thing with NHL 2004 when they changed cover athletes from Dany Heatley to Joe Sakic after Dany was involved in a car crash that killed one of his teammates. When the game was released people got the Dany Heatley cover...however, after that stock ran out...whoever bought the game got Joe Sakic...